History of Seneca Co., New York, with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, palatial residences, public building and important manufactories, Part 18

Author:
Publication date: 1876
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts, Ensign & Everts
Number of Pages: 294


USA > New York > Seneca County > History of Seneca Co., New York, with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, palatial residences, public building and important manufactories > Part 18


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The St. John's Memorial Church of Seneca Fulls was organized as the Trinity


Church upon January 13, 1831. The meeting was held at what was called the " Franklin Institute" building. The Rev. Reuben Hubbard presided as chair- man, and was selected rector. Wardens and vestrymen were chosen, and a cer- tificate of the proceedings signed and recorded in the County Clerk's office. The first meetings were held in Mechanics' Hall. It was resolved to build a church in 1833, and a lot was purchased for a site. The corner-stone was laid Novem- ber 18, 1833, and service held therein in July, 1834. This edifice has been enlarged sioce 1859, and a new edifice is at present contemplated. . The Grace Episcopal Church of West Fayette is of recent date. A plat of ground having been donated to the society by Vincent M. Halsey, a church edifice was erected thereon ; and, on its completion, dely consecrated to Divine service on April 1, 1875. The consecration ceremony was performed by Bishop Huntington, of the diocese of Central New York, nssisted by Reverends Perry, Doty, Catterson, Cossitt, and Dooris. Its value is $1500, capacity one hundred and twenty-five, and attendance forty. St. Paul's value, $35,000; capacity, nine hundred; fami- lies, one hundred and seventy ; persoos, seven hundred and fifty ; members, two hundred and thirty-seven ; contributions, $10,061. St. John's value, $3₺)00; capacity, four hundred ; members, one hundred and sixty-one; Sunday-school has twenty teachers and two hundred and forty-five pupils; mission-school has twenty-three teachers and one hundred and sixty-two pupils. In addition to these given there is the First Disciple of Waterloo, with some fifty members, the Adventists of Seneca Falls, and a small band of Christadelphians, which, without preachers or elders, exists under the control of presiding brethren.


CHAPTER XXIV.


RELIGIOUS, LITERARY, AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES.


COMMUNITY of interest leads to unity of association. Where individual effort is futile, an organization succeeds. From time immemorial this principle has been known and applied. It is not the intention here to do other than indicate the directions in which this combination of purpose has been applied in the County. From the files of the various publications, issued from year to year, the co-operation of agriculturists is seen in societies, general to the County or localized to a part, notices of fairs, meetings and addresses, followed by more or leas gain to the farming class. There have been agricultural associations, sgri- cultural and horticultural, and agricultural and mechanical. The cause of religion has originated Bible and missionary societies, Young Men's Christian Associations, and Sunday-school Uoions. Medical societies, starting early, have heen maintained to the present. Temperance has had its advocates, Masonry its adherents, farming its Patrons of Husbandry, and the fires of patriotism have been kept burning in the Posts of the Army of the Republic. The fraternity of Masons date the organization of their first lodge, within the State of New York, from the establishment of St. John's, No. 1, in 1757. The Grand Lodge dates from 1785, when Robert R. Livingston was elected Grand Master. In 1826, at the time of the Anti-Masonic excitement, there were in the State three hundred and sixty lodges, twenty-two thousand members, and few villages of, nny import- ance without an organization. Ten years later the lodges were but seventy-five, and the membership about four thousand. The fraternity have again grown strong, continue to flourish, and are in communication with grand lodges throughout the work.


The first movement towards the organization of a lodge in Seneca is recorded in a notice in the columns of the Waterloo Gazette, of-date July 30, 1817, that the installation of " Junius Lodge" of Free and Accepted Masons would take place on the following Wednesday-the ceremony to be public. Gardner Welles, Abraham Pearson, James Irwin, A. F. Hayden, nud Peter Failing, were the Committee of Arrangements. A criticism of later date indicates that a lodge was formed nt that time. A year later, Juno 24, 1818, Fidelity Lodge, No. 309, was constituted at Trumansburg. It was one of the few who "never surren- dered" in the war upon the order. Their number was reduced to twelve; they met, and paid dnes till 1849, when their location was changed to Ithnea. In time they, with others, petitioned for the establishment of the present lodge, now numbering abont one hundred members, ten of whom were of the original lodge. Among these were Taylor, Halsey, Strobridge, Thompson, and McLallen, who nre held in high veneration among the craft at Trumansburg.


A charter was given to a lodge at Ovid on February 2, 1825. It was sur- rendered to the Grand Chapter February 3, 1830, and again revived on February 8, 1850. Their rooms were destroyed by the great fire nf October 26, 1874,


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HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY, NEW YORK.


and a new duplicate warrant granted February 3, 1875. Pocahontas Lodge of Seneca Falls is another prosperous society, whose record will be given in town history.


The Independent Order of Odd Fellows was introduced to this country from Manchester, England, and the first regular lodge opened in 1819 at Baltimore. The order is numerons, and their efforts for the relief of members, the aid of widows and orphans, the education of the latter, and the burial of the dead, exemplify the beneficent character of the society. The first lodge of this order in Seneca County was organized at Seneca Falls, in the year 1845, and known as Hyperion Lodge, No. 180, I. O. O. F. Its first officers were George B. Daniels, Abel Downs, John Shoemaker, William Langworthy, William Clark, Horace C. Silsby, and David B. Lum. The lodge remained in existence for about thirteen years. In the year 1850, Marion Lodge was organized at Waterloo, and, con- tinuing a number of years, disbanded. There are now two subordinate lodges in the County : the Powhatan, No. 310, of Seneca Falls, and the Willard, No. 311, of' Ovid. Powhatan Lodge was instituted on March 7, 1872, by C. A. Runyan, D. D. G. M. of Ontario District, with seven charter members. Its first officers were T. G. Crosby, N. G., C. F. Brady, M. F. O'Conner, R. C. Sickles, and L. W. Lull. Its present membership is fifty-six. The lodge paid, in 1875, for relief of members, nearly $300. The Willard Lodge was instituted March 20), 1872, with five charter members. Its first officers were J. Turk, Sr., N. G., William Coe, L. Conklin, and G. W. Wilkins. Its present number of members is sixty. Seneca County was made a district of Odd Fellows in 1873. T. G. Crosby was appointed as the first D. D. G. M., and Loren Conklin is the present incumbent. Seneca Falls Encampment, No. 72, I. O. O. F., was instituted August 29, 1872, by William Baumgrass, D. D. G. M. of Onondaga and Cayuga District. Its first officials were I. L. Wieks, L. W. Lull, M. F. O'Conner, W. H. Warrington, C. C. Gilman, and B. S. Nichols. The present membership is thirty. Iona Rebecca Degree Lodge, No. 48, I. O. O. F., was formed at Seneca Falls on January 13, 1874, by T. G. Crosby. It had thirty-two charter mem- bers, now increased to fifty, and is the only lodge of its class in the County. Its first officials were C. F. Brady, N. G., Mrs. W. B. Rubert, V. G, Mrs. R. F. Butts, R. S., Mrs. C. G. William, F. S., and Mrs. T. G. Crosby, Treasurer. The Encampment of Seneca Falls is the only one in the County.


The order of Knights of Pythias has recently been established in the County; it is mainly composed of young men under the age of thirty, and is in a prosper- ous condition. Charles T. Silsby is the D. D. G. C. of this District, consisting of Seneca, Ontario, and Cayuga Counties.


The spread of intemperance, and the evils which followed in its train, led to the formation of a State Temperance Society on April 2, 1829. The efforts to restriet and abolish the traffie in liquors have been constant, extended, and at- tended with some degree of success. Societies known as the Washingtonians, having their rise among reformed inebriates, spread over the State between 1841 and 1845, and Seneca's citizens had organizations whose flame died out within a brief period. The secret orders of " Rechabites" and "Sons of Temperance" arose in New York about 1842. Many lodges were formed, and the orders sway considerable influenee against intemperanee in the community. Besides these, there is the order of Good Templars, whose efforts are in the same direction. A Tent of Reehabites was organized at Seneca Falls, January 30, 1873, with eight charter members. It was reorganized August 13, 1874, and, receiving a new charter, was known as Seneca Falls Tent, No. 37, and numbered eighty members. Its present number is sixty members. Meetings are held weekly on Sunday after- noons. There are five tents of the order in the County, viz., Seneca Falls Tent, No. 37; organized January 30, 1873; members, sixty. Seneca Chief Tent, No. 42, Waterloo; organized January, 1874; members, fifty ; S. S. Jamieson, C. R. Prospeet Tent, No. 59, Canoga; organized January 20, 1876; members, thirty- two; J. Darrows, C. R. Fayette Tent, No. 62, Fayette; organized February 1, 1876; members, fifteen ; John Ernsberger, C. R. Security Tent, No. 63, Fay- ette ; organized February 3, 1876 ; members, forty ; M. Benninghoff, C. R.


At Seneca Falls, a higher branch of the order exists as the Pioneer Camp, No. 1, of the Encampment of Reehabites. It was revived as an order since the late war, and this society was organized in August, 1874, with W. H. Golder as commander. Ladies have been active in societies of this class, and, at Waterloo, a band of boys has been enrolled to advance the cause of abstinence from spirit- uous liquors.


The formation of medical societies was authorized by act of April 4, 1806. Many county societies were formed under this act, and its result has been of much benefit in exchange of views, and advanced ground in modes of treatment of diseases and injuries. A medical society has existed in Seneca County almost from the period of its formation. A noties is given in the press of that time, that a meeting of the County Medical Society would be held on June 5, 1838, at the house of G. Bachman, in the town of Fayette. An election was there


held, resulting in Dr. C. C. Coan being chosen President ; J. L. Eastman, Vice- President ; D. Covert, Secretary ; M. B. Bellows, Treasurer, and Enos Palmer, Librarian. Interesting matter concerning the early physicians and their organi- zations is anticipated for other portions of this work.


The teachers' institutes and editorial conventions are eduetive agencies, ad- vaneing the rank and influence of school and press, and fitly represented by respective professions in the County.


Three Posts of the Grand Army of the Republic have been formed in the County. These "posts" consist of soldiers and sailors of the late war, who were honorably discharged from the United States service. The oldest of these is located at Seneca Falls, and is known as Cross Post, No. 78, the name being applied in honor of a family named Cross, from which a father and four sons enlisted'in the service of the Government. The post was organized in 1869. The present com- mander is J. M. Guion ; the membership is one hundred and twenty. A second post was organized at Waterloo, and designated as Tyler J. Snyder Post, No. 72; J. W. Brown, of Junius, Commander. A third post was organized in Ovid village, October 3, 1874, as Charles P. Little Post, No. 40. The maximum of membership is fifty-six ; the present enrollment is twenty-one. These " posts" become conspic- nous upon the annual recurrence of Decoration Day, when they meet and march to the cemetery, where each year finds one or more of their band "mustered out." Not many years ere these later defenders of national unity shall have passed away, and national and local cemeteries hold of them all that is mortal. The soldiery do well to unite for mutual support, and to do honor to the memories of the heroie dead.


Historical societies have been formed at Waterloo and Seneca Falls. In the former place have been gathered many relics of the olden time, in a room set apart for that purpose, and old and influential citizens have taken part in its organization. The society is forming on a good basis, and promises to dn much in historical research. The society at Seneca Falls has little material. Messrs. Lum, Failing, Smith, and others have prepared articles which have been pub- lished. There is ability and knowledge of facts among the members to obtain much that is valuable, but whether the work will be done is uncertain. The habit of procrastination has already buried a valuable record in ohseurity, and the paucity of material, where was onee in abundance, should warn the aged to revive and transmit their recollections before it is too late. A full and exhaustive series of printed questions, extensively circulated, is suggested.


CHAPTER XXV.


THE PRESS AND ITS PUBLISHERS IN SENECA COUNTY.


THE history of printing is a chronicle of the progress of modern civilization ; the world fails to realize the wonders and power of the art. Most especially is this true of the American press. Nearly every hamlet has its newspaper, wherein every change is noted, every worthy enterprise encouraged, every event set forth. The principal historieal remains are embodied in the files of old papers, and there is equal difficulty to collect authentie doenments respecting American social life of to-day and French or English history in the Middle Ages. Were our country to be overrun by barbarians, the industry of other lands would be the reconrse of the historian. A paper of 1812 and prior has intelligence a month old at reception concerning events occurring far away, while matters of the local set- tlement are neglected till most have perished, and the strong man has grown old and feeble-minded. To estimate our present literature by the number and variety of publications would give us high rank. Many papers, looking only to selfish ends, seem to forget that their province is a general diffusion of useful knowledge. The press of Seneca County has attempted to hold a neutral ground, and, with few exceptions, drifted rapidly into the maelstrom of political controversy. National welfare has been made subservient to party. Numerous short-lived efforts attest the failures of enthusiastic attempted journalists. Reform measures requiring an organ have given n press an origin, and Bascom is recalled as a posi- tive and useful editor of the Memorial. Mrs. Amelia Bloomer is recognized as a leader of her sex in the conduet of the Lily. And the Water Bucket gave expression to the Washingtonians.


These papers ceased with the discontinuanee of the agitation of the questions which called them into being. Those journals which supply popular demand, denounce wrong, applaud worthy projects, and give a prompt epitome of the world's daily history, are a power for good and remunerative to their proprietors. The changes in execution and delivery seem magical. The small, coarse paper,


54


HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY, NEW YORK.


the hand-press, and the post-rider delivery of the Patriot of 1816 are contrasted with the handsome sheets of the Courier, Reveille, Observer, and Independent of 1876,-the former two turning out Couriers and Reveilles from cylinder presses moved by water-power, each number replete with items from the far East, and delivered to subscribers abroad upon the Lightning White Train. Note here the westward progress of the art from its inception. In 1725 William Bradford began to publish the New York Gazette,-the first paper published in the colony of New York, the fifth in the American provinces. John Peter Zenger, the pioneer champion of " the right to canvass publie measures and the acts of public men," began the next paper in 1733, under the title of the New York Weekly Journal. Zenger boldly and severely criticised the administration of Governor Crosby and his council, was incarcerated for months, and refused a vindication upon trial. He was defended by Andrew Hamilton, an able barrister from Philadelphia, upheld by the populace, and acquitted by the jury. The later enunciation of the Constitutional edict of a " Free Press for a Free People" has proved a safeguard to liberty and a check upon publie dishonesty. But twelve papers were com- menced'in New York prior to. the close of the Revolution; now they are num- bered by hundreds. The first settlers in Seneca County had little time for read- iog papers, and they had very few to read. At Geneva was published in 1797 the Ontario Gazette-and Genesee .Advertiser, by Lucius Carey; in 1800 the Int- partial American, or Sencca Museum, by Ebenezer Eaton ; and in 1806 The Ex- positor, later, Geneva Gazette, by James Bogart. Other of those primal presses were located at various points, but the difficulties of distribution made their cir- culation local. The pioneer printer of Seneca County was George Lewis, who, in the year 1815, started in the village of Ovid a small sheet entitled the Seneca Patriot. The office of publication was located on Seneca Street, in the upper story of a building on whose site the engine-house now stands. No copies of this first paper of Seveen are known to be in existence, and there are few living that can tell what kind of man was its publisher or his after-career. At the close of a single volume, Mr. Lewis changed the name of his paper to The Ovid Gazette, and when Elisha Williams secured the removal of the County seat to Waterloo, Lewis removed hither with his press in May, 1817, and continued the issue of his paper as. The Waterloo Gazette, which thus became known also as the first paper published in that village. A partial file of these papers is preserved in the rooms of the Historical Society at Waterloo. The oldest copy is Vol. I., No. 6. It is prioted upon coarse paper, and is simply plain in execution. Its terms were: Delivered, $2.00 a year; at office, $1.75; club rates, $1.50, and deductions made to post-riders. Herein John Goodwin informs the public that he has added another boat to his ferry, which will enable him to keep one on each side of the Lake Seneca. William Thompson, Esq., gives an order of sale at vendue of a part of the real estate of Thomas W. Roosevelt, of Junius. Lewis Birdsall, then sheriff, offers for sale his tavern-stand near the turopike gate in Junius. John Watkins gives notice for debtors to settle under penalty of a positive prosecution, and a lover of- beer enters his protest against adulterating his favorite beverage with Indian cockle. Postmasters Jesse Clark, of Waterloo, and Abijah Mann, Jr., of Seneca Falls, advertise lists of letters, and President James Monroe is announced as upon a visit in Connecticut to the gun-factory of Eli Whitney, Esq.


Lewis soon disposed of the Gazette to Hiram Leavenworth, by whom its pub- lication was continued until in 1818, when John McLean, Jr., who had been appointed Judge of this County by the Governor and Council, associated with Mr. Leavenworth in editing and publishing the sheet. In 1821 MeLean retired, and the former proprietor continued once more the publication as its sole owner. Leavenworth kept his small sheet well filled with decided expressions of political views of the old Federal stamp under the first alias-Clintonian. The office was situated in a small building just west of the old Eagle Tavern. A front room was occupied as the law-office of Elisha D. Whittlesey. The back room, io size about fourteen by eighteen feet, was press-room, type-room, and editor's sanctum. Party spirit ran high, and one night the press was rifled of its bed-plate, and, with a form of type, thrown into the river. The issues were delayed for a few weeks, but that was a small matter at that date.


In 1822, the Waterloo Republican, under the management of B. B. Drake, made its entry upon public life, and the Gazette was discontinued. In June, 1823, the Seneca Farmer was started in Waterloo, under the control of William Child, in a building opposite the court-house. From 1826 to 1829, the editor chronicles many events of a local character, gives the publie the latest develop- ments upon and against Masonry, and announces a celebration of July 4, 1829, at which an "oration was delivered by Ansel Bascom, Esq. . The doors of hos- pitality were thrown open to the old Revolutionary soldiers, for the most import- ant -service ever rendered to a free people, and every desirable refreshment through the day bestowed without money and withont price." The Seneca Farmer was published in Waterloo till August 10, 1831, and then its place of


publication was changed by Childs to Seneca Falls. Proposals were issued by O. B. Clark, in the summer of 1829, for publishing a paper at Seneca Falls, under the name of the Seneca Falls Truth, to be Anti-Masonic in sentiment, and Anti- Jacksonian in polities. Mr. Clark found ready support in that village, which was just emerging upon a prosperous carcer, and, in the fall of 1829, issued the first number of the Seneca Falls Journal, the pioncer publication of the village. Two years' experience as an editor was sufficient for Mr. Clark, who sold out his paper, and was later heard from as a resident of Cold Water, Michigan, and a legislator in the capacity of "State Senator. Wilson N. Brown, of Aurelius, Cayuga County, came to Seneca Falls in 1820; by him the "journal" was pur- chased of Clark, and published for a year. In 1832, Mr. Brown entered into partnership with Mr. Childs, and their respective publications were merged in one, and published under the title of The Sencca Farmer and Sencca Fulls Advertiser. Mr. Childs soon bought out the interest of his associate, and continued the paper till 1835. Joseph K. Brown then began to publish a paper called the Seneca Falls Register .. Two years went by, and its career terminate d.


The Waterloo Observer has passed the semi-centennial of its existence; it has been well edited, and has exerted a leading influence. From a sheet of twenty small columns, it has expanded to a paper of sixty-four. It first made its appearance in 1824, published and edited by Charles Sentell, and has been regu- larly issued, withont a continued change of name, under different proprietors and editors, until the present time. It has adhered to the same principles advocated in its very first number, and, through all changes in ownership, has never swerved from the advocacy of Democratic principles. After a number of years' experience in the conduct of the Observer, Mr. Sentell transferred it to Smith & Co. Sub- sequently the paper reverted to Mr. Sentell, who leased it to Pew & Marsh for one year. Then it was sold to M. C. Hough, who published it one year, when Hough sold to Sentell & Pew, who published it down to 1853. Mr. Pew was succeeded by Mr. Vreeland. The partnership of Sentell & Vreeland was of brief duration, and Charles Sentell again became sole publisher, and so continued until 1866, when Edward W. Sentell, his son, assumed its charge. O. C. Cooper was taken into partnership, and the Observer was carried on in an able manner as an exponent of politics and a medium of news. N. Hyatt finally assumed the responsibility of conducting the paper, and remained at its head till its purchase by William H. Burton, in 1872, when Messrs. Wm. H., Wm. A., and John A. Burton became proprietors, and William H. and John A. Burton editors. Wm. H. Burton is the present proprietor, and Mr. James Joyes its editor, the office being located in rooms of the Yeast Factory buildings. In 1846, when telegraphie communication was established with Waterloo Village, the Observer published a daily, but it was short-lived. Various ephemeral publications have been absorbed from time to time, and the paper is now in good repute, with a large eireulation, and bids fair for many years to come.


The Senceu Republican was started at Ovid, in 1827. James Bogart, already mentioned as a pioneer newspaper publisher in Geneva, was the proprictor, and Michael Hayes the superintendent and editor. The press was entitled the Ovid Gazette, and was changed to the name Sencca Republican upon Mr. Hayes becoming owoer of the paper, which change transpired within a brief time after its publication began. Though removed from the immediate line of the canal, the Republican was known as a Clintonian advocate. In 1830, it was changed to the Ovid Gazette and Seneca County Register, and publishicd for a brief period under the charge of John Duffy.


. The Western Times was a Waterloo publication, by Ebenezer P. Mason, in 1830.


The Wreath und Ladies' Literary Repository was issued by Edwin Wheeler, in 1831, from the Observer office. It saw but few numbers, and added yet another to the list of unappreciated efforts.




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